Trending Topics

An Interview with Lukas VanDyke

April 03, 2008

This marks the third interview I’ve completed with artists involved in various disciplines. I first interviewed Max McLean about performance art and then Makoto Fujimura on his abstract art. Today I turn to photography and interview Lukas VanDyke, a photographer I have met at several conferences. Lukas is an exceptional photographer and I enjoyed his responses to these questions. I hope you do too!

Tell me a little bit about yourself—who you are and what you do.

Who I am? I tend to be very introspective and have piles of journals to prove it. So I will keep this short. I’m a Christian, and want to live a life to glorify God. There are two general questions I often ask myself. First, what am I known for right now as I live. And secondly, what will be I remembered for when I die. And for both questions I want the answer to be that I am living/lived my life with the kingdom of heaven in mind. To God be the glory.

Practically I am 26 year old guy who lives in Los Angeles and loves everything about his life. I love living in LA, I love my church, I love my friends, and I love my work. I started out in the Midwest when I was little, but ended up in Los Angeles in 2nd grade. I have been at John MacArthur’s church since then and can’t express my debt to the teachers there for the clear exposition of the scripture and its application on my life. The fellowship, love, and God centered focus of the body of believers I am part of makes me long to spend eternity with them doing what we do every week only free of our imperfections.

Vocation wise I actually do a number of different things. I am currently the Senior Network Analyst at The Master’s College. I’ve worked there consistently for the past 7+ years. However, ever since I opened my photo studio I have cut back my time there to give me the chance to shoot more. I love the impact I am able to have at the college and it is definitely a ministry which is worth ones time, but I also have a passion for photography. When I am fully engaged in a shoot the whole world around me disappears and it almost feels like magic. I guess it’s the thrill and passion of creating art. I love the experience. Which would lead one to ask what I shoot? Mostly I do fine art wedding coverage and couples portrait sessions. But I also do enjoy the abstractness of doing the cover art for various bands and other musicians. It’s a charge listening to the music and attempting to create images which define the music without sound. I also do some family portraits and free prayer cards for any missionaries who ask me. And within the major categories of what I do one of my favorites in conference coverage. I cover the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church every year, I also cover the Resolved Conference, and have done coverage at Steve Lawson’s church. And recently I got asked to start doing coverage for Ligonier Ministries and have emails to potentially do a few others. I love the conferences because I love meeting new people, and being able to help in any way with the impact these conferences have on the world.

Tell me how you came to be a Christian.

When I was five my Dad explained that if I were to die I would go to hell, and then explained a basic gospel. I repented and prayed a prayer to God. After that point all through my childhood I remember seeing consistent fruit in my life. I think I probably became a Christian at the point. However, I did still have a lot of doubt all through grade school and junior high. I prayed the prayer of salvation almost every night. I think this was probably because although I had an understanding of the tenants of gospel I couldn’t clearly articulate it with scripture. It wasn’t until I got into a small discipleship group when I was in junior high that I became surer of my faith. In small group we systematically went through some different core truths. We discussed God and who He is, memorizing verses such as Gen 1:1: and Acts 17:24-27 showing God is the creator of the universe. We talked about man and his sins and memorized Rom 3:23, 6:23 and other such scripture related to our total depravity and inability to come to God. We dived into Christ’s death and redeeming work on the cross in John 3:16 etc… And finally we talked about how man through nothing in himself can accept this gift and memorized Eph 2:8-9. We also practiced role play situations and learned how to clearly articulate this to others. It was a wonderful experiencing bringing me to a more scriptural based understanding of my sanctification. I also learned the 5 points of Calvinism and their scriptural basis in junior high. This clear teaching at an early age built a foundation for the growth and struggle for sanctification I have seen since then.

How is photography a form of art?

Photography is an art in one sense of the word in that it requires skills on a multiplicity of levels. The creation of fine art images requires technical speed and skill with the camera. It assumes understanding of the complexity of color and light and how to use and bend such to make an image bleed with color. It necessitates an ability to understand and capture or evoke emotion from the subject or situation. This is followed by the process of fine-tuning the hues, saturation, and overall feel in post processing. All of which is just a brief synopsis of the complex mental and emotional process which goes into the creation of images. In the above definition of the word “art” my aim is to create images which, I hope, will take on an objective quality of excellence.

But overlying the technical aspects of image creation my internal validation stems from a different goal. I think the following really defines photography or anything else as art. I strive to create images which bring people into a realm which they have not yet or currently are not experiencing. I want to introduce them to a reality outside the mundane, bending their emotions, and driving them to an action which otherwise may have never caressed their mind. My passion draws the fibers of my inner being to produce, create, and define people’s conception of reality with the truth of things which exist outside the mundane of their world. In the case of fine art portraiture this might be as simple as conveying expressions of love or joy between couples in a beautiful way. However, in the case of international photos essays I bleed to show people the existence of the church, and people’s lives around the world. A life exists within the people I photograph. A life behind their eyes. Yearning hearts exist beyond the stereotype we throw at one another. Though the appearance of a person I photograph often shows their personal manifesto towards life, it isn’t always fair to classify every individual within that social group as one holding to those ideals. Are they not still people? I want to bring the world beyond their conception of the ordinary into the unseen and unheard and unspoken of.

Is photography your only artistic outlet or do you enjoy creating other kinds of art as well?

Although I would consider myself weak in the area, I do enjoy writing. For the same reason as I love photography, I love creating visual pictures that move people to see the pleasure I find in so many things.

When did you first discover your abilities in photography and your love for it? Have you received any formal artistic education?

During high school and in my first year of college I had tinkered with a point and shoot camera and I guess someone liked my work and asked me to shoot their wedding. All of a sudden something snapped in me and I decided to go all out. It’s actually a lot of really amazing stories which would take to long to write here. But in the course of a few months I started working for another wedding photographer and ended up with a good set of professional equipment and was shooting like crazy. I took a few basic classes to learn how to shoot manual, use studio lighting, and some journalism related classes, but for the most part it’s just been thousands of hours of work. Looking at other images and absorbing the feel and what I like about them. Doing intense criticism on every aspect of my own work looking for any area I could improve, and adjusting pushing myself and learning. I shoot around 200,000 images a year right now. I love it!

How do you seek to bring glory to God through your art?

Well I think anyone from custodial to the corporate executive can bring glory to God through their work. It’s working with fervor, with excellence, with diligence, with a love for those around us which shines the light of Christ. But aside from the above I specifically seek to bring glory to God through art by building bridges from the mundane to the passionate. God has given each person an allotted amount of time in life. We all have the choice as to how we use this time. I strive to show images which make people want to act. It’s actually been really amazing over the last few months, I have been see how emotional God has created us, and really starting to understand more the joy, sorrow, and passion we can live our lives with. God has given us an amazing world.

Which of your photos or series of photos are your favorites? Why?

A few years ago I went to Berlin, Germany for a couple months to do some work with our missionaries over there. While I was there I started a project photographing extremely close face shots of the beggars all around the urban center of Berlin. A year later I did a second series of beggars in the heart of Mexico City, Mexico. I took all these images with a wide angle lens from within 18 inches of my subjects face. These are by far some of my favorite images. They are context free portraits of people’s eyes. All of these eyes have a story behind them which I don’t know now nor will ever know. They are representative of lives filled with love or hatred, dreams or despair, hope or misery. Each has a story, each has a reality, and each has a need for a savior. I currently have an entire wall in my office filled with 16x20 inch prints of this series. But I love any image which has emotional passions, from images of prayer meetings in the mud brick slums of Brazil, to a crowd of anxious Russian seminary students leaning over Rick Holland to hear about the Word.

What are your hopes and dreams for your photography? Do you hope to build this into a full time occupation?

My hope would be to use something I love to further the Gospel of Christ. Right now this is a two part goal. One I want to be able to impact people for ministry through visual images. Second I like it because it gives me the flexibility to volunteer my time for missions for months at a time when the need arises. And obviously those things don’t generate any income, but I LOVE shooting weddings, and portraiture, and commercial images also. So for now it is just expanding what I do in every direction!

About Tim Challies

I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Ontario, and am a co-founder of Cruciform Press.